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Pastor's Page

Posted on February 22, 2007 ...

I have read several resources lately saying that people today tend to have fewer and fewer friends than they did generations ago. The explanations for this phenomena sound reasonable. In earlier days you had to have more relationships just to survive. If you wanted to buy a cut of beef, you went to the butcher. If you needed milk or eggs, you inquired with the milkman. Clothes came from the local ?¢‚Ǩ?ìmom and pop?¢‚Ǩ¬ù store like the one my grandparents operated. Our world was full of shopkeepers. Because of this, everyone knew some things about everyone else?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s life. Today we can pick up almost anything at the one-stop shopping outlet or even order what we need and have it delivered.

Years ago, the best entertainment was porch and parlor time with your neighbors. Now we have an infinite number of television channels and the world at our door via the internet. The fluidness of society changed relationships too. The friends we had ten years ago are currently likely to live out of our community or be on a different family path than when we were close.

Timothy Merrill, Senior Editor of Homiletics journal writes of a service where you can hire someone to accompany you to an event and pretend to be your friend. Fifty dollars an hour will get you a professional wingman or wing-woman that will walk around bragging about you to anyone and everyone who will listen.

Is finding and maintaining friendships becoming a lost art? Is the idea that friends are necessary for a well-lived life obsolete? Are these relationships going to be more optional and less essential in the future? I certainly hope not. Friends are part of God?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s plan for our lives. Remember that Abraham was called a friend of God (James 2:23) and Jesus used the title friend to describe his relationship with His disciples (John 15:15).

The church is a wonderful place to discover and develop quality friendships. Quakers even call their church the Society of Friends. This weekend?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s DiscipleNow experience will enhance the relationships among our students. On a larger scale, the church is healthy when it creates an environment where friendships thrive. The need for good friends will never be obsolete. It is good to be your pastor and friend. Jay

Pastor?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s P.S. Starting this Sunday and going through March, My Sunday morning sermons will feature various aspects of our responsibility toward future generations. These messages will lay the foundation for our Future Generation campaign.